What started as a difficult day, ended up with very exciting news! My little blog has made it to the finals of the Blog Awards Ireland 2013 for Best Food/Drink Blog! In all honesty, I wasn't expecting that at all! I thought I would do well in the technical end of things, such as design and mobile compatability and although I was thrilled with being nominated and shortlisted for Best Food/Drink Blog, I never really thought I had a hope in hell with so many great food blogs out there! When I found out that I had made it to the finals, I was first surprised, then excited and now just plain terrified and super nervous!
I blog what I want to eat or what I am eating at the time. My photos are always real, never edited beyond the aul autofix and cropping bottons. There is always an impatient, hungry tummy behind the lense (either mine, Alan's or Daili's) waiting for the right shot to be taken before the plate can be snatched and the food can be eaten. Food is never altered, it is after all my dinner, so we never add anything unedible to it; what's more, I never waste food in the name of the blog. Sure this, more often than not, means that we might have to eat mole pie four times in one week, but I hear no one complaining as it is all for the sake of research.
The blog is a labour of love for me. When I sit down to write it, I feel excited and happy... in an odd sort of way, it helped me find my calling and when I went and found the blog a new home, I saw it as an opportunity to grow and to give it the TLC it needed.
It is often said that blogging is a lonely pastime... but that has never been my case. I have found that blogging is an incredibly social task; my social calendar has never been this busy! Blogging has provided me with plenty of fun adventures both in and out of the kitchen; It has taught me photography and food styling skills, it has given me an expensive addiction to pretty plates, it has allowed me to practice my writing, to learn about recipe writing and ingredients listing too. It has taught me to filter and edit my ramblings and with the number of failed recipes and drafts that never became posts in my inbox, it has kept me grounded... but above all, this blog has introduced me to a lot of like minded people, some have become pretty awesome friends. The past four years have seen some of the happiest and darkest days of my life so far. This blog has been my joy and my solace... and all through those four years you, my reader, have been there.
I have now learned that regardless of how much I fuss about a crappy photo, or my writing style, this little blog of mine is, in fact, a pretty cool thing. I set up this blog with the sole intention to show people what REAL, AUTHENTIC Mexican food is all about and how you can cook it in Ireland. Today I feel incredibly humbled and quite happy. It doesn't really matter what happens on the night of the awards and let's face it, I'm up against some pretty stiff competition, all that matters is knowing that all those late and cold dinners have paid off.
If you have read this far and you are sitting at a desk top, you surely found the little Mexican surprise hidden inside this post; it's just a silly, little thing to say thank you for all your support! We've had it from the beginning reserved for a special time to use it, so I felt today was a good day to do so! :)
